Knowledge Management Organizations and Associations

Knowledge Management

AOK (Association of Knowledgework). Run by Jerry Ash, this free to join association has several KM e-zines, has a KM 'star series' with a record of dialogues with world renowned KM luminaries, has links to KM blogs, other resources as well as an up to date KM newsfeed.

APQC (American Productivity and Quality Center). A membership organization for corporates that has a high reputation for benchmarking and quality research studies with its member organizations. Head for the 'knowledge base' for some highly useful free resources, including case studies, booklets on KM strategy development, communities of practice, critical success factors and measurement. You'll have to pay, though, for the excellent Best Practice Guides and Passport guides.

KMPro. Based in Washington, but with chapters world-wide this is arguably the major KM professional membership organisation following a merger in 2002 with KIMPS (Knowledge and Innovation Management Professional Society) offering accredited courses, a newsletter, local meetings and a resource library.

KMCI (Knowledge Management Consortium International). Founded in 1997 as an international professional association of Knowledge Management practitioners, its main role now is the promotion of KM 'certification' courses and publications on 'new generation knowledge management'.

Information and Knowledge Management

Any significant knowledge management programme will need the skills of information management professionals. Organizations that once catered for librarians have tended to broaden their appeal.

SLA (Special Libraries Association). A US-based organization representing the interests of thousands of information professionals in over eighty countries worldwide. It has various KM resources and runs a knowledge management certification programme.

ISKO (International Society for Knowledge Organization). An international indisciplinary soicety with chapters around the world. Its primary aim is to advance conceptual work in knowledge organization in all kinds of forms, and for all kinds of purposes, such as databases, libraries, dictionaries and the Internet.

NetIKX (Network for Information and Knowledge Exchange). A London-based group for professionals from Information Science, HR, ICT and the business world who want to learn and share good practice and helpful tips about managing and exploiting information and knowledge.

Last updated: 19th April 2011